Parents 'ignore game age ratings'

Jim Hall writes "With all the fervor recently over the 'Hot Coffee' mod and the upcoming 'Bully' game, I found it interesting that no press time seems to have been given to this little gem from the BBC: Parents 'ignore game age ratings'. I think most of us agree that the games are already rated appropriate to their audience - GTA:SA was previously rated "M" (17 and up) in the US, before public outcry forced the ESRB to move it to "AO" (18 and up). However, as this article points out, parents are more concerned about children spending too many hours playing games, rather than about what type of title they were playing."

Comments

They Just Need to Retool The Ratings System

[danielDamage]

You know, the problem is that ratings like AO and M just aren't strong enough. Parents see it and it just doesn't look that threatening. They need to have large icons that show the detrimental effect that the game is likely to have on children. Like: TRENCH! (displays picture of a kid in a black trenchcoat with a shotgun in each hand) This game will cause your child to blow holes you could drive a truck through in their classmates! ANAL! (displays picture of child dragging another child by cute pigtails) This game will cause your child to anally rape their younger sister on a daily basis! SENATOR! (displays picture of legislation) This game will cause your child to run for office in the legislative branch! See, warnings like that will really speak to the actual fears parents have about video games, and then they'll pay more attention.

Small nitpick

[Otter]

Despite what CmdrTaco and the submitter seem to think, the United Kingdom (and its BBC news outlet) are not part of the United States. If I recall correctly, they seceded from the US in 1776 after dumping all their tea into the Thames.

HTH

Re:well clearly

[Gruneun]

well clearly

This is uncontravertable proof that partents know how to parent than senetors.


No, nothing was clear there.

Re:I think it's about time

[welloy]

That would require some parents to say "No" to their children. Completely unacceptable.

Re:Their lives are too stressful to pay attention!

[Afecks]

Politicians take this line because it's a tried-and-true battle cry. Both "for the children" and "for the greater good" have worked for thousands of years; just ask Socrates.

We can't. He's been dead for 2,404 years.

I think that game's great

[Lifewish]

I'd wager that every hormone-fuelled teenager ever to own a car has, at some point or another, felt a strong urge to break the speed limit, smash into that car that is refusing to let him/her overtake or otherwise drive in a horrendously dangerous fashion. When my friends and I get those urges, we fire up Flat Out and take our frustrations out on innocent computer-generated imitation cars. Works wonders - it defuses the tension completely. As an added bonus, the messy pileups help bring home the message that we shouldn't try this in a real car.

In the same way, Quake II is still helping me resist the urge to strangle my kid sister, with the added bonus that I'm less likely to deliberately start an interstellar war.

Re:Their lives are too stressful to pay attention!

[roman_mir]

productive member of Slashdot - I think this is going to be my new favorite oxymoron.